The Head of the Charles Regatta, by the Numbers
For the 55th straight year, rowing’s Holy Grail will welcome hundreds of thousands of spectators—not to mention tens of millions of dollars—to Cambridge and Boston to watch the world’s finest athletes with oars sprint to victory. To help you sound like you know what you’re talking about during race weekend, here’s the Head of the Charles Regatta, by the numbers.
Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
225,000–300,000
Spectators expected to show up in person
7
Overcrowded bridges from which to watch the race
120,641
Dollars raised for Head of the Charles official charities in 2018
72,000,000
Dollars that spectators are expected to spend in Boston over race weekend this month
8
Crew members who row in an eight-person boat
9
Crew members who race in an eight-person boat (coxswains are people, too!)
300
Competitors during the first regatta in 1965
10,258
Competitors in 2018
26
Percent chance, on average, that it will rain during October
1
Race cancelation due to bad weather. (It happened during 1996’s “100 Year Storm.”)
13:27
Time, in minutes, for the UC-Berkeley men’s championship eights team to set the course record in 2017
10
Time, in minutes, for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest winner to down 74 frankfurters in 2018
38
Road closures messing up your day during the Boston Marathon
1
Road closure messing up your day during the Head of the Charles
115–125
Reported weight, in pounds, of most Victoria’s Secret models
120
Minimum weight for a coxswain on a men’s or mixed-crew racing boat
2
Days the Head of the Charles runs
<2
Hours many Bostonians spend thinking about crew outside of this race each year
